Bandipur

This was a last minute trip that was planned just 2 days before our birthday. I had heard good things about this place and wanted to try this destination for long. Also, I wanted to do a safari. I got to know about a direct flight to mysore and decided to make the plan.

There were no rooms available online, but my travel agent got one for me. We booked a Mountain log hut room with all meals included for Rs.45000. I booked a round trip to Mysore on trujet for about Rs. 4000 per person. Regarding transfer, I decided to take a taxi from the airport. So all booking books were done and I was quite excited to go.

The trujet flight, which was to leave chennai airport by 11:00 am left only by 2:15 pm. There was absolutely no message sent to us regarding the delay. I felt it was more of a bus service. The flight lands. By the time passengers get down from the flight, the next set of passengers are waiting on the ground to board. The flight is on the ground only for 10 minutes!!! You get on the flight and they immediately serve you tamarind rice and water. Once you are done, its time to get off. While I was getting off the plane, I saw the next set of passengers ready to board.

Anyways, the mysore airport is literally empty. This is the only flight that operates from that airport as of now. So you have a handful of ground staff. So there are few taxi drivers waiting outside. We booked one for Rs. 2000 one way to the property. It took about 2 hours to reach. The last stretch to reach the hotel was quite bumpy. We took down his number and called him for our return from property as well.

As soon as we entered the property, the manager briefed us. Our room was beautiful. The whole resort was lit up in light and looked splendid. The food at the resort is quite good. There are quite a few activities like table tennis, carrom,  foosball, snooker, etc. There is a playground and kids play area. The swimming pool was quite cold but we still enjoyed ourselves. You can pick up cycles near the reception and can use it till 6 pm.

The only thing I would definitely recommend is getting a better masseuse at the spa. They do organize safari and nature walk. We did do the jungle safari but no luck, we didn't spot any big cats.

The staff were sweet enough to pack lunch for my kid for my journey back. We had a wonderful 2 day break. Luckily, our return flight was delayed only by an hour. Loved our short and sweet vacation

The Serai - Chikmagalur

My husband was born exactly a day after me. Since this was the first year we were celebrating our birthday together, we wanted to go out somewhere. More so, because we were scared if any of his family members will throw a "birthday party". I was debating between Kumarakom and Chikmagalur. I chose Chikmagalur, considering the cost as well as staying at Bangalore for the weekend. 

I was planning to stay from 14th Dec to 17th Dec. The first time I called, they said they were sold out. Later when I did tell them I wanted to spend my birthday there, they said they would confirm and get back to me. Later she did get back to me saying 16th was unavailable. I told her it was my husband's birthday and I'd want to stay there. She later did take in my request and gave me a confirmation. I made an online payment to confirm the booking. I booked an Estate pool villa for 3 night, which was about Rs, 38,499 and included all meals for both of us. 

Next came the hurdle of booking tickets. I appreciate the fact that Indian Railway ticket can be booked online, but it is so damn slow. I left on 13th Dec through Bangalore Mail and reached Bangalore at 5:10 in the morning. I then caught a train from Bangalore and reached Birur by 10:00 am. The train was late by about 40 minutes. I had asked the resort to arrange for a car to pick me up from Birur station. The driver who came to pick us up spoke good english and was really nice. It was 1.5 hr drive from station to the resort. My husband was unhappy about the fact that we were travelling so much and said I was not going to plan trips any more. 

We reached the resort by about 11:30 am and the resort was beautiful to look at. Christmas decoration was up everywhere. The welcome drink was Cold Coffee and it was super yumm. We were taken to our villa and it was gorgeous. It was a huge villa. As soon as you open the gate to your villa, there is a path that leads you to your room. Opposite to your room door, you have a pool and a place to lie down. The landscape is dressed beautifully with grass and plants. As soon as you open your room door, the first thing you notice is the huge bed. There is a TV, a sitting area, mini bar and wardrobe in the room. When you open the bathroom, you are in for a treat. First, it is soooo big!!! You have washbasin on either side of the bathroom, so we don't have to fight for the place to get ready. There is a bathtub in the middle. The right side door leads to the shower area and left side door leads to the washroom. There is a small passage between the bathtub and shower area, which leads to the outer shower area. If I ever get a chance, I would definitely build such a huge bathroom for me. 

The food here is ok. I really enjoyed my breakfast here, especially Masala Dosa. They do have lot of options like Indoor Games, Outdoor Games, Swimming Pool, Gym, Billiards, Library, Movie option, etc. The sad part was it was a bit cold out there and I couldn't use the Swimming Pool that much. Should have booked the villa with Jaccuzzi :(. We hardly stepped out of the resort as we wanted to just relax in the resort.  The resort did arrange for us to go to the Siva Temple nearby, where you need to climb about 500 steps and its the highest peak in Karnataka. The view from there was brilliant. We tried the spa at the resort and it was good. 

View from Shiva Temple:

The resort does offer romantic dinner option for a couple, which includes candle light dinner under a tree and in the swimming pool. We didn't take any of the option and wanted to surprise each other. The surprise that we planned for each other, didn't turn out so well but we did have a hearty laugh about it.

Random Resort pics:

Overall, this resort is fantastic and would recommend it to anyone for 2/3 night stay. I did check out on 17th Dec at 8:00 am to catch my train from Birur at 10:00 am. Stupid train came to the station more than an hour late and I reached Bangalore by 3 pm. I spent the weekend with my friends in Bangalore and came back to Chennai.


By the way, my husband did say the trip was worth it and I'm back to planning all the trips again :D